A Place Called Home
by KittyThomas
Summary: Set sometime after MR4. On the run again from another enemy, the flock encounter a 'supporter' family with a story that rivals their own...as well as a few lessons they'd like Max and Fang to learn. FAXNESS! Iggy
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I admit this is a bit unusual for me. I don't usually write fanfiction which I know deviates a fair bit from what the original writer intended, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration for this one- a crossover between MR and one of my own creations, a family with a bit in common with the flock.**

**Eh? It might work. It probably won't. We'll see. **

**And I rarely post another multi-chapter fic when I haven't finished another, but this story nagged and I'm lacking inspiration at the moment for _Falling in Love and Other Really Scary Things. _I'll update when I can, many apologies to those who care. **

**Anyway...**

**Cross Paths**

Chessa Swan-Cox, who appeared to all outside her family as little more than a happy farmer's wife, suddenly set down her large mixing bowl that contained a half-made cake and ran outside into the yard, screaming franticallly for anyone that could hear her.

Unfortunately, that was no one.

A storm was rolling in from the north –a storm that she herself has failed to predict- and dark clouds were gathering overhead. A trembling rumble shook the very air. Even though the majority of people she lived with had extremely sensitive hearing, the vibrations the storm was creating would null them to her pleas. Chessa wiped the flour off her hands and ran into the main barn just as the rain came pouring down.

The sheep bleated pathetically, while the cows moaned to the noise. The barn smelt strongly of damp and fresh hay, animal food, wet fur.

"Florn!" she called, turning helplessly round the corners. "Kane! Brida!"

"Yeah?" there was a loud thud and a voice appeared behind her.

Chessa shot round and came face-to-face with Brida, the fifth member of the family, her best friend and someone she called her sister. Her hair was floating around her shoulder, indicating she'll probably been hanging from the rafters until a few seconds ago. Chessa didn't notice.

"Bri," she gasped, clutching her skirt in her hands. "Where's Florn and Kane?"

"Getting the horses in from the fields. Why?"

"Tell them to hurry up- quickly!"

Brida sped off like a cat with the hounds of hell at her heels. She was much faster than Chessa could ever be, despite being tiny in terms of size. Brida was fifteen, fully grown now, but only stood at a measly 5ft.

After what seemed like forever, Florn and Kane finally joined her in the barn, dragging two fine horses sleet with rain.

"What is it, Chess?" Florn leapt forward, thrusting the reigns into Brida's hands and jumping to her side with his usual concerned urgency. He turned her face towards his with a rough, gentle hand. "What's wrong? What can you see?"

As usual, Florn was the first to notice the glazed look in Chessa's eyes which meant that she was blind right now, that she had just seen something inside her head, things that no one else could see. Things that often hadn't happened yet.

"The six children," she clasped his wet shirt. "The ones with wings. They're being chased, and they're coming our way. One is injured."

"How far?"

"Two miles north, maybe? Wait-" she stopped him from racing off, clinging to his clothes. "They're coming closer. Take the Land Rover and go to the field closest to the stream, by the bridge. Hurry!"

Florn nodded. "Bri, take Chessa inside."

"Bog off," she laughed hollowly. "I'm coming with you! You heard what she said- they're being chased."

"I'll get the shotgun…" Kane shot off.

Chessa could sense Florn still looking at her. "Go!" she shouted. "Go on, hurry! I'll be fine in a minute, Florn, honestly. I know the way around my own home! Go!"

A few moments later, Chessa realised she was the alone in the barn, the storm rattling around her. Dimly, she stepped forward, dark shapes beginning to form again. She found the two horses and held their reigns tightly, letting them lead the way slowly towards the stables. They seemed to know where they we going. Feeling her way with her free hand and feet, she stabled them as best she could and ran back to the house, the yard quickly turning to mud. It was hardly a warm pleasant spring.

Chessa sat down at the kitchen table until she could see again, them buckled all the shutters and listened out for everything odd. It seemed the three youngest members of her family we're still tucked up in bed. Confident they were safe, she turned her attention to window, and watched as the heavens continued to fall.

"Come on," she prayed, "Hurry…"

**.o0o.**

So, once again, I, Maximum Ride, with my faithful band of human-avian hybrids, was on the run, accompanied by something, once again, that was trying to kill and/or capture us. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother. We inevitably, no matter how bad the situation is, somehow manage to escape.

Somehow.

Trouble is, when you're lost in the middle of a storm, and your best friend's bleeding into your shirt, and the wind is so strong the younger ones can barely fly through it, you fail to see the silver lining somehow. When things are really pretty bad, it's hard to remember all those near-misses, because you realise this might be your last. Near miss, that is. This time, you may actually find you've been hit.

Because Fang certainly had been. Not that this was unusual. For some reason, Fang always seemed to be the obvious target whenever all of us were fighting. He always took the brunt of the blows, the hardest hits. Not that he isn't a good fighter –because believe me, _I'd_ know!- that just seems to be how things turn out. But just because he gets beat up often, doesn't make it any less worrying. Like I said, you never know when your going to be hit, when one fight isn't going to be his last.

"Max," Iggy called from Fang's other side, his voice muffled through the noise, "We can't go on much longer. The others can barely keep up."

I nodded. "I'm nodding, Iggy," and dimly wondered how he knew how the others were fairing, him being blind and all. I looked back briefly. Angel and Gazzy were flying hand it hand, a wet dog curled up in Angel's backpack. Nudge was on Angel's other side, trying to keep them going. I shivered, and not for the cold. I was scared of what was going to happen if I didn't find a place to land soon.

I saw a faint flicker of light through the wind and rain and my own hair plastered to my face. A flicker of light didn't really mean very much. It could mean people, a town, a city- none of these were particularly helpful things. A hospital? Maybe. But only just. Still, it was nice to see light at all, a beacon shining through the night, or whatever.

As we drew closer, I realised it was light from a farmhouse. I big one too, by the looks of things. And the great thing about those big old-fashioned working farms is they more than usually come with a nice big old-fashioned, warm, dry barn. If you're lucky, which we inevitably aren't. Still, it was better than nothing. We could haul up there, see if we could get a fire going, do something about Fang's wounds.

"Down!" I told Iggy, and thrust out a gesture to the others.

We ducked out of the clouds. Why were we flying through clouds in the rain, you ask? Well, our nicely privileged enemies in helicopter were flying _above _the clouds, so naturally we came in here to hide ourselves. As far as I could tell, we'd lost them, which meant my brilliant (but really uncomfortable) plan had worked. So far.

Despite being genetically engineered to be practically perfect in every way (yeah, right) there were still some things which couldn't be ironed out. Like the ability to fly in the rain. Normally, I wouldn't be doing this. In fact, I'd never do this, but desperate situations call for desperate measures. I was still paranoid of getting hit by lightning though. That's never happened to me before but I somehow doubt it's all hugs and warm fuzzy feelings.

Unfortunately, Fang chose that moment to fully lose consciousness and stopped flapping altogether. Iggy and myself, already exhausted beyond belief, didn't really have the energy to keep him up ourselves. However, we also lacked the sheer heartlessness which would have allowed us drop him. Because I don't know about Ig, but the chances of me letting go of Fang were about as likely as the School inviting us all round for Sunday lunch and a nice chat. And me not kicking their asses.

In other words, it's not happening.

"Flap, Iggy, FLAP!"

"I _am_ flapping!"

"Nudge," I screamed. Nudge is about twelve now, and naturally, strong for her age. She's practically one of us big kids. "Nudge, get Gazzy and Angel down _NOW!_ Then get your ass up here and help us!"

Nudge obeyed without question. I saw her stream down below, quickly disappearing from sight. I widened my wings as far as the would go, tried to tilt them into the wind, toss me up higher. We were losing altitude too fast.

"Iggy!"

"I'm trying!"

I wondered how far Nudge was from the ground. Why wasn't she back already? I chanced a look down, but I couldn't see anything. Everything was just a solid dark colour. Where were the others? Where was the farm? Where was the-

"Iggy! Brace for impact!"

I shut my eyes tight, hoping the ground was soft, hoping we'd slowed ourselves down enough, hoping the others were OK. A strong gust of wing hit me in the back like a hand of steel. In that brief second of surprise, I felt my grip of Fang loosen. A split second later, he was gone. Automatically, I dived forward and grabbed out into the air, but my hands fell around nothing.

"FANG!" I screamed, my breath twisting in my throat. I couldn't open my eyes, they felt like they'd been sewn shut, raindrops pelting my skin like bullets. I lashed out against the wind, reaching for anything, flapping my wings madly. I felt like I was being dragged down under the water. Worse, I felt like I was falling.

I have wings. I don't fall.

Wait, where was the ground? Surely I should have-

_Thump. _

Pain. Hard and instant.

OK, so there might have been a split second there when I thought I was dead, just because of the whole traumatic falling thing and the sudden drop and the pain. Then I realised the rain was still falling, and that the pain was over, and that somehow, by some strange reasoning, I wasn't actually on the ground.

I was in someone's arms.

This someone was unfamiliar, strange. I could see his face, young, clean-shaven, not much older than me. Twenty perhaps. Handsome.

In a very possibly-probably-actually-some-sort-of-an-Eraser way.

I immediately began to struggle, but his arms held me fast. This guy was strong- too strong. But his flesh felt warm, human. He wasn't sporting any fangs. He looked perfectly normal.

"Let me go!" I screamed, hating the way my voice sounded. I sounded like a pathetic, weak little girl. "Get off me! Iggy! Iggy, where are you?" he didn't answer.

"Easy, easy!" His grip tightened to the point of pain. "We're here to help! Easy chick…"

"Don't call me chick!"

I heard him laugh and lashed out to hit him, but he caught my fist in his hand and pushed it back down. His reflexes were scarily fast.

"What the hell are you?"

"You can talk, bird-girl."

_"Kane!"_

There was another face, a young girl's, hidden beneath the brim of a wide hood. She looked about my age, but she was tiny in stature. "Florn's moving. We have to hurry. Come on!"

"Where are-"

"The flock's fine," the girl answered quickly. "But we have to move. Come on, Max!"

She knew my name. She knew my name, and she called the flock, 'the flock'. Usually, this meant they were evil scientists who'd studied us most of our lives, but somehow, I didn't think this was the case. Don't kid me wrong, despite this girl's innocent face, I still had had my doubts. Never judge by appearances. She could be a robot, a trap, and this guy's strength was extremely suspicious.

But I had to go with the flow. There was no way I could fly anymore, and we needed help. Somehow, I think luck must have been on our side. We'd fallen into the home of supporters.

**.o0o.**

**A/N: Not much of a first chapter, I guess. Still, go with the flow, I say. If there's enough interest, I'll post the next chapter I have ASAP. REVIEW PLLEEEAAASE!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This story has done pathetically in terms of reviews :( I knew it was a crap idea, but still I feel I should give it a chance, so I've uploaded the next chapter.**

**Crossed Lives**

The journey back was extremely quick. Kane tumbled me into the back of a Land Rover with the rest of the flock, and climbed in after as if he thought we might escape. Some guy I hadn't seen before was driving. Angel leapt into my arms the minute I sat down squeezed me like she hadn't seen me in weeks. A second later we were peeling through the night.

Kane and the girl sat hovering over Fang, examining the extent of the damage. I wanted to be there with them –Fang was mine, not there's- but I didn't want to leave Angel or Gazzy. They seemed to be helping him. Before I could dwell much on the subject we screeched to a sharp halt and the driver streamed out to pull open the single back door. Kane gathered Fang up in his arms (no easy feat, I tell you) and leapt out towards the farmhouse where a dark silhouette against a warm backdrop waited in the door. She saw everyone coming and ran back inside.

"Um, Max?" Nudge nudged my elbow. "What's going on?"

For some reason, I almost wanted to laugh. "I have absolutely no idea."

The girl-stranger climbed out next, offered her had out to Iggy. She seemed to know he was blind. "I'm Brida," she looked at all of us this time. "Brida Darwin. And don't worry. Everything's going to be OK."

"Like I haven't heard that one before," I rolled my eyes. "Who the hell are you guys?"

"For now, let's call me a fan."

"And later?"

"Later?" she smiled, ridiculously cheerfully, if you ask me. "Later, when I'm not wringing wet and you've all been fed to death by Chessa? I'll tell you a story that will rival your own."

Somehow, I doubted that. Still holding on to Angel and Gazzy, I climbed wearily out off the car. The rain had nearly stopped, and I groaned hungrily. I could murder food- of any kind. Even those bleating sheep were starting to smell tasty.

"Hurry up!" called Brida, "It's bloody freezing out here!"

_God_, I thought, _I hate England._

"It's very hospitable though," Angel, the little mind-reader, looked up at me. I scowled. "What? It's not every day a family offers to take you in and feed you."

"They may look nice," I told them, "but be on guard nevertheless."

"Come on!" Brida was at the door already. "And stop talking about me! I can hear you, you know."

Growing ever more suspicious by the minute, I hurried inside nonetheless. The woman who had been standing in the doorway before greeted us. She was about Kane's age, very pretty, with long dark hair. I couldn't help but feel glad she didn't have red hair. Fang would have been all over her, sexist pig that he is.

"Hey, there's some warm clothes in the kitchen," she ushered us in hurriedly, closing the door behind us, looking around before she did so. It was the sort of thing I did, scanning for enemy depth. What did she have to be afraid of? "I hope they fit. You're all kind of tall…"

Understatement. This girl was a good couple of inches shorter than me and Brida was tiny. I'd never squeeze into her clothes.

"Brida, show them where the bathroom is, would you? And there's soup of the stove, bread on the table… I'll find some more in a minute."

The kids hurried off, Iggy holding onto the hem of Nudge's dripping jacket. Brida followed. I wanted to go to- the kitchen was warm and I was ravinous, but I wasn't moving till I saw Fang.

"Where's-"

"Fang, right? He's in here." She flashed me a kind smile, full of affection. I might have dwelled on who she was longer if I hadn't seen Fang lying sprawled out on the couch in their sitting room, still as death.

"Fang-!" I rushed towards him without thinking, trying to push Kane out of the way. It didn't work though, it was like running into stone. I barely noticed. "Is he-"

The man who'd been driving came in from another room, brandishing a packet of dark liquid. He was about the same age as Kane but they couldn't have been more different. He was dark and silent, Kane blond and annoying.

"Here," he handed the packet to the girl, who stabbed a needle though the top and filled it up. It bubbled red. "Knew we had a packet left somewhere."

"It'll do for now," she said hurriedly, rolling up the sleeve of Fang's jacket. "Kane, get the transfusion equipment."

"On it."

"Wait," I put my arm out to stop her. Her wrists were tiny, breakable, not at all like Kane's. "Is that blood? You can't give that to him, it's not-"

"Don't worry, this is special blood."

"Special as in, O-neg? 'Cause that's not special enough. He needs blood like ours, like-"

"Avian-hybrid's?" she raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to trust me, Max. This will work."

Before I could even think about stopping her, she'd rammed the needle deep into Fang's arm. A second later Kane was rushing back in with a transfusion kit. The other man unbuttoned Fang's shirt, and along with the woman, bandaged the worst of his injuries. It was done with the swiftness and precision of an SAS SWAT team. That is to say, they did it better than us.

Needless to say, I was slightly miffed, even if they had just saved Fang's life. It felt a bit shoved to the side, useless, unwanted.

She began to laugh softly. "Trust me, Max, you're not unwanted."

I bit my lip, then looked up again suddenly. "Wait, did you just-"

"Max…" Fang's eyes flickered open. I don't think I'd ever been happier just to hear the sound of my name. It was like music to my ears. Immediately forgetting whatever I was thinking, I rushed over to his side. He was OK! He was awake!

"Hey," I smiled unnaturally. "How you feeling?"

"Like I've been put through a tumble-drier."

I forced back a laugh. "Don't be ridiculous, you're too wet to have been through a tumble-drier." Holding his hand (again without really thinking, damn him!) I turned back to the others, the ones who had just saved him. Right then, I couldn't have cared who they were. _Thanks, _I mouthed.

"See?" said the woman, "I told you it would be OK."

"But how-"

"Are we good in here?" Brida's face appeared in the doorway. She had redressed herself, towelled down her hair. It looked faintly blonde now, and I wondered if she was related to Kane. She looked a lot like him, even if she was a total short-ass and he nearly gave Iggy a run for his money.

"Yeah, we're fine." Kane said. "Dry yet?"

She groaned. "I probably won't be dry for another month."

"Ha, silly cat."

"Ha, silly arsehole."

They fixed each other with the kind of look that suggested that wanted to hit each other, no matter how much they really cared about each other. It was a look I knew all too well.

"So…" Fang started. "Where the hell are we? How did we get here?"

I looked up at Kane, hoping for an answer, but he just shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the young woman. "Don't ask me- Chessa's the one who seems to know everything."

Funny names, I thought. Chessa, Brida –and what was the other one? Florn? I mean, I'm no stranger to slightly odd names. Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman- but it seemed weird these guys had odd names too. They seemed normal. I did a quick scan. No extra parts, no horns, teeth… then again, Kane was weirdly strong.

Chessa sighed. "Get the others in Brida, I think it's time we explained."

Without another word, Brida left the room and came back in with the rest of the flock. They were all dressed in dry clothes now, all fitting quite nicely. I suddenly feeling cold in my own dripping ensemble. Chessa gestured for us all to sit down. There was a lot of space in their sitting room, just for the four of them. I've not been many places with three couches.

I stayed near Fang, on the floor. Angel and Total (talking dog, long story) came to sit beside me. Brida helped Iggy into a seat, and Nudge and the Gasman climbed on after him, squeezing together. They looked as nervous as if they were sitting in an interrogation, rather than a nice warm sitting room. Mind you, it did feel ridiculously comfortable. This floor was the nicest thing I'd sat on in weeks.

Chessa sat down on the spare couch. The dark-haired man, Florn, sat down beside her and held her hand. I noticed they were both wearing wedding rings. They were married? They weren't much older than us!

"My name," she started, "Is Chessa Swan-Cox. This is my husband, Florn- John to some. You've already met Kane and Brida. I'm twenty years old," she added, as if this made any difference. I suppose she was trying to relate to us, get us to open up or something. Fat lot of good that would do.

Then she said something I really wasn't expecting.

"I'm twenty years old, and I spent the first thirteen years of my life in a laboratory."

**.o0o.**

**A/N: If you like it, please review!! I'm starting to think everything I'm writing is rubbish. I used to get so many...what's happening? It's inspirational to get reviews!! (That's probably why my other MR fanfic is doing so badly at the the moment...) Sniff-sniff I'm going to come down with writer's block!! nOOOOOOO!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I don't even know why I still bother posting. At least we have a bit of Fang/Max here!**

**Crossed Lives**

Okay. Well, that changes things. Quite considerably, actually.

"I grew up there with Florn, Kane, Brida- and three others you haven't met yet. Two of them are asleep upstairs, Josh is at uni." She said this with a real sense of pride, the sort I pride I felt the flock, I thought. "We were experimented on all our lives. I'm sure you can relate. Then, when I was thirteen, we all escaped together. Florn's uncle had spent the past fourteen years planning it, although we had no idea at the time. We were free for the first time in our long, miserable lives.

"Here is where our stories differ. We were taken to the city, given false identities, forged birth certificates. We were meant to be split up, sent to foster families- places away from each other. We knew it would be safer that way, but I'm sure you can understand why in the end we stuck together."

I did understand. Totally. I imagined escaping the School only to be taken away from Fang and the rest of the flock. I would have fought like hell to keep us together.

"We were educated by a carer who knew what we were," Chessa continued. "When we were ready, we were entered into the school system. A few years later we emancipated ourselves, got our own place and got legal guardianship of the younger ones. We lived like ordinary people, living happy ordinary lives.

"That all changed when Kane saved the life of a little girl who nearly got hit by a car. His heroics earned a good deal of media coverage. This led to a story about our family, about a struggle to keep us all together. The locals loved it. But it got us noticed by the people that made us. Our creators-slash-killers." She added bitterly, with unspoken venom. She didn't have to explain that to me. "We thought they were all dead. The lab burned to the ground the night we escaped. Apparently it hadn't been that easy. Suddenly, we were wanted again. We fought them off in the end. We stayed safe. They're gone now. Then Florn inherited a trust fund when he turned twenty-one, left by his uncle. We bought this place and have been here nearly a year now, happier than we'd ever been. Until…"

Her voice trailed off. She looked round at all of us guiltily.

"Until what?" asked Nudge fearfully.

"We're avid blog-readers," explained Brida. "We've been reading you guys for a long time. We have a lot in common, mainly the whole grew-up-in-lab thing. The company that made us? We think someone went rouge. We think they created the school. We think they made you."

"What's to say someone from the School went rouge and made you?" asked Gazzy, sounding slightly miffed, as if she'd wounded his pride by suggesting he was made second-hand. "I mean, I don't see your wings. Maybe you're just flukes."

Almost everyone in the room stifled a laugh.

"Don't take this offensively, little man, but I'm a little bit older than you," said Florn. "It's hard to make a model of something that hasn't been born yet."

"Still," said Fang reasonably. "Gasman's right about the wings."

"Oh, we don't have wings," Brida rolled her eyes as though this were obvious. Hey, they can be tucked it pretty tight! They might have had them somewhere! "No, we're not like that. We're just, you know, super-modified human beings. Really strong. Really fast. Basically, we have supersenses. We can see really far, hear from incredibly far away, heal really fast. It's quite cool."

"Except Chessa," Florn added. I'd been expecting this much. She didn't look like she could break a toothpick, let alone fight. Out of any of them, I would have named her the normal human. But of course, I was wrong.

"You can read minds, huh?"

She smiled at me. She had a nice smile. I gave Fang a weird glance just to make sure he wasn't smiling back. He wasn't.

"Pretty much, yep. That's not my primary ability, though." She paused for dramatic suspense. As if anything she could say would rattle me. "I can see the future."

Well, that was new.

"That's how I saw that you were coming, and I sent these three to find you."

"Wait," I interrupted. "You can see the future? How does that work?"

Chessa rubbed her tired eyes. "Well, it's not without its flaws, I assure you. But I'm the only one of the prophet models to survive childhood. I'm not strong like the others- I get tired easily, have migraines a lot. And when I see things –and I don't enforce them, they just happen- I go blind temporarily, not always in the most opportune of moments."

Jeez. This girl had something to relate to every one of us, didn't she? She had almost read minds like Angel, she went blind like Iggy- next she'll be saving she has something in common with me too, apart from the growing-up-in-a-lab thing.

"You'd be surprised," and she looked at me and Fang. Without meaning to, I realised I'd let a flush of red cover my cheeks.

"You're all different," remarked Angel suddenly. "We're all the same, apart from our other powers. But you guys are all different. How come?"

"The company never stuck to one project at a time," explained Florn. "I was their first successful model. Coincidentally, I was actually born from a woman, my mother, who they experimented on without her knowing before I was even born. When I turned out so 'perfect' they used my genetic plan to make others. Kane here was the first test-tube infant success. But there were many failures."

"Like the prophets," added Chessa bitterly.

"Or the rest of my kind," we all turned to Brida, who wore an expression of both sadness and anger. It was a look I could relate to. She sighed. I sensed another story coming on. "They tried to make us better than Kane and Florn. Even faster, more adaptable, flexible, better balance, night vision- that sort of thing. They started experimenting with the DNA of other animals. In my case, primarily cat and monkey. Needless to say, there were many failures there as well."

I shut out memories from days at the School, from experiments so horrible they should never have been born. My jaw tightened. Fang squeezed my hand.

"Did they ever experiment with… avian DNA?" The question came from Iggy.

"Yes, they did." Chessa sounded annoyed. "About three or four years before you guys were born. The results widely varied and they scrapped the project for the time being. Only one was allowed to live, Josh."

"Does he have wings too?" asked Nudge excitedly. "I've never met someone outside us with wings. Except flying Erasers, of course, and Flyboys-"

"Josh doesn't have wings," Brida cut in. "He kind of has…half wings. Coming out his back. He can't fly with them, and he can't remove them because they're grafted onto his spine. He was named a failure. But something in him must have been right. He's really tall, you know, but light. Obviously, there was still potential."

"We think that's when someone went rogue and either turned to or created the School." Continued Chessa. "Then they made you after refining your make-up or something, some years later."

She didn't add anything to this, like 'you and us are one in the same' or anything corny. She was being really factual. I wonder if she hated us secretly for coming here and destroying her peace, but if she did, she took it in good grace. I looked at Angel expectantly, but she just shook her head.

"I can't read her mind." she whispered.

The clock on the mantelpiece chimed midnight. Around then, I realised how long it had been since we last slept. The little ones could barely keep their eyes open.

"I'll get you all some sleeping bags," announced Chessa. "I'm sorry we don't have any guestrooms, but what with so many of us… well, thank heavens we're all avid campers! Brida, could you fish out some biscuits and milk please? They must still be starved."

I wanted to remind her we were perfectly capable of looking after ourselves, but decided against it at the last minute. This was her house, after all, and they had just rescued us. There was a million and one things I wanted to ask them –like what the other two upstairs could do, for example- but I fought against them. I really wanted to sleep right now.

Florn came back down with some sleeping bags and Chessa with a heap of spare pillows. We all grabbed one eagerly just as Brida came back in with a tray full of food.

It was only then I realised that me and Fang were still soaking wet.

"There's still some clothes in the kitchen," Chessa reminded me. "Do you need some help, Fang? I can bring them in for you.

"I'm fine," said Fang automatically.

"I'll help him," I said at the exact same time.

He draped his arm around my neck and I helped him to his feet. He was oddly stable for a guy who had a huge hole in his side. He might have winced once or twice, but he didn't let me see. I cast a backwards glance to make sure the rest of the flock was okay as we wandered into the kitchen.

Fang sat down on a chair and I pounced on the clothes. They were worn but clean, all boys, which suited me just fine. It was better than having to wear one of the dresses I just knew Chessa must own. She struck me as the immensely girly type.

I handed the larger set to Fang and stripped off my jacket, dangling it over the old-fashioned AGA where all the other clothes were drying. I was just about to pull off my T-shirt when I realised that Fang was in the room with me. Fang was a boy. I was a girl. Suddenly that seemed a whole lot more important than it had before.

I've never been particularly self-conscious, especially in front of the flock. I mean, we grew up in cages next to each other, we didn't always have the choice about what we could show and what we couldn't. We've all seen each other at our very worst.

But now, well, things were different. You kind of learn that it's generally not acceptable to be naked in front of the opposite sex, even if you are related. And I suppose that was also what was bugging me. Because Fang wasn't actually related to me. At all. Sure, he was my family. But we weren't related by blood.

Thank God.

Before I could dwell more on this I-need-to-change-somewhere-private problem, Fang gave a really quiet groan which brought me back down to earth with a bump. "Fang?" there was no chance to hide the urgency in my voice. "You okay?"

"Fine…" he moaned.

I shook my head. He always says that, even when he's been beaten up within a inch of his life. "You're terrible," I said, and came back over to him. He was trying to look like he wasn't in any pain and failing miserably. He couldn't even undo the buttons on his shirt.

"I'm terrible?" he raised an eyebrow. "You can talk."

"I can," I said, unbuttoning his shirt for him. "Because I'm super-Max, practically perfect in every way."

"Yeah, whatever." There was a faint trace of laughter in his voice.

"Put your arms down," I instructed. I peeled off his wet shirt. For some reason, Fang smiled smugly the whole way through.

I won't even talk you through how we managed to get his trousers off and another set back on, but I can say it led to a rather annoying argument when I made him turn around as I got changed, on the basis that 'I'd seen all of him'.

It was very hard for me to sympathetically help him back to the living room and force-feed him a couple of cookies after that.

Eventually, I finally managed to snuggle down into my sleeping back. It was warm and feathery.

Angel and Gazzy curled up on one couch with the surprisingly quiet talking dog. "I'm in shock, shock I tell you!" he told us later, and Iggy offered Nudge his one, settling down on the floor with me. Fang stayed where he was and I rolled over next to him. I can never stay mad at him for as long as I really want to.

It was odd, falling asleep that night, how strangely safe I felt, like I didn't need to be on guard permanently. Even the branches knocking against the windows didn't move me to sudden alert, and I didn't feel the need to keep watch. We were safe here.

"Max?"

I rolled over on my side. Fang was wide awake still, half hidden under the unzipped sleeping bag.

"If we're so safe, how come you aren't asleep yet?" he asked, with that usual knack for always knowing what was on my mind.

"Just, you know, weird." I offered in explanation.

"Having another family a bit like ours?"

"Yeah. I mean, we've been through our whole lives thinking we were the only ones like us, and suddenly it turns out that there's another group of them- half of them older."

"What, don't like not being the eldest genetically engineered human anymore?"

I scowled at him through the darkness. "I'm still the oldest Avian-American! As if. It's just odd… them being like us. Kind of. Well, they lack wings. It's strange."

"Because they _don't _have wings…?"

"You know what I mean! I just can't believe there's another lot of them, with another load of powers, living a nice, ordinary life. Why are we even here, Fang?"

He laughed quietly. "The greatest question of them all…"

"I'm serious! Of all the places we could have ended up, why did we come here, to a farm in the middle of nowhere, that just happens to be inhabited by a bunch of experiments?"

"You can ask the physic in the morning. Otherwise, just assume we're lucky."

Fang smiled at me, and reached a hand down to brush a stray lock of hair off my face. My little mutant heart began to beat hurriedly as he did so. He drew it back quickly the second he realised what he was doing, but my hand leapt forward and took his in mine. Our fingers entwined.

_Yeah, _I thought, _I am lucky._

**.o0o.**

**Awwww. Sweet. Not.**

**Now review!! Please!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yeah, I'm still here...writing. I still like even when others don't. I'm hoping it'll pick up later when the romance and the plot does. Yes, there is one. I know!**

Power Cross

In the morning, I was woken by the most horribly unexpected thing in the world.

No, I did not wake up to find the house crashing down, on fire around me, or the rest of the flock being off by unknown enemies.

No. I woke to the sound of a baby screaming.

_What the HELL! They have a kid?! When did this happen?_

Thankfully, it didn't last for long, but the rest of the house was up in no time, getting ready to face a brand new day. I groaned, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but realised it wasn't going to last long. There was the sound of little footsteps running down the stairs, followed by the creak on a door, and, lastly, the inevitable gasp.

I turned to see a boy about Angel's age standing in the doorway in striped blue pyjamas, hand still on the doorknob, his face alight like a Christmas tree. He looked like he'd just seen Santa.

"CHESSA!" He screamed at the top of his very loud lungs. "Chessa, the bird kids are here!"

I looked around at the rest of the flock, our wings all fluffy and relaxed with an early-morning sag. I admit this wasn't what most kids expect to find in their sitting room when they come down for breakfast.

"They're here, Chess! How? What? Why? Did you know they were coming?"

Chessa appeared behind him smiling. "Yeah, about three minutes before they did. Polite much, Jay? Guys, this is Jamie. Jamie, say hello."

"H-hi!" he stammered. Seriously, were we really that impressive? This guy lived in a house with a bunch of super-humans and someone who could see the future. What's a few feathers between that?

"I can't believe it!" he squeaked. "You're actually here! In our house! I've wanted to see you guys for _so _long!"

"Why?" questioned Total.

"Oh my God! Total the talking dog! This is amazing! You actually talk! You are so incredible!"

Count the exclamations in that sentence, folks. Total positively beamed.

"Total has a point," said Angel quietly. "We're very exciting and all, but what's _so_ exciting about wings when you're all superhumans here?"

"Because," Jamie beamed. "I have wings too!"

And just like that, a pair of bright white wings erupted out of his back. Seriously. One minute there was nothing, then suddenly WOOSH! Two fluffy feathered wings flapping behind him. They were white like Angel's, but sleeker somehow, less feathery, and ended with blue tips unlike any bird I'd ever seen. I had to admit, they were quite a nice pair.

"Jamie!" Chessa narrowed her eyes. "Wings in inside the house, please."

"They've got theirs out!"

"They're guests! Besides which, theirs don't go in quite like yours."

I frowned at them. Jamie seemed only to pleased to explain. He pulled up his pyjama top around his neck and flashed his back. A second later, this wings shot forward into his skin. There before us now was a perfectly ordinary human back.

"Ho-how?" I muttered, mouth wide open.

"Someone like to tell me what's going on?" That was Iggy.

"How did you do that?" asked Angel in awe, her big eyes shining.

"I don't know," admitted Jamie modestly. "I was just made that way. I didn't even know I had wings until over a year ago. We all thought I was perfectly normal until I sort of…fell off a roof. Then zoom! I was flying!"

"Yeah, and there's been no peace since." Another girl appeared in the doorway. She was about ten, with long brown hair in a braid and a neat little uniform. I guessed it must have been a school day. "Hey," she said casually. "I'm Emzy. Before you wonder, I'm the regular kind of superhuman, no added extras, thank you. Except for my blood." she looked at Fang. "You can thank me later."

"Um, what does your blood-" started Nudge.

"Oh, it's super-blood." she explained matter-of-factly. "Don't know quite how it works, but it does. Super-advanced healing properties. Never ill a day in my life. Scratches heal like _that_." she snapped her fingers.

"Hey guys, breakfast!" Chessa called from the kitchen.

Within a few split seconds, we were all cramming round the kitchen table. God knows how we all managed to fit, but we did somehow. There were chairs everywhere. It was just as well Florn and Kane weren't around.

"So, you guys sleep well?" asked Brida, helping herself to cereal.

"Yes thanks. Lovely floor." replied Iggy promptly. "I'm not joking!"

"Somehow, I can believe that."

"Anyone want eggs? If you're anything like these lot that's probably a-"

A loud chorus of 'YES!' drowned the end of Chessa's sentence.

"Let me help with that," Iggy climbed to his feet. "You've done enough for us already."

"You sure? I don't mind-" Iggy had already taken the frying pan out of her hands.

Yes, the blind guy can cook. How? I don't know. What was weirder was Chessa not doing the standard 'but-you're-blind' speech. She simply sat down at the table.

"Jamie, hurry up, or you'll be late for school."

"But the bird-kids-"

"Will hopefully be here when you get back. There's no excuse for you to be late!"

"Meanie." He screwed his eyes up crossly, but Chessa just smiled and he soon lost interest in being angry. It occurred to me that Jamie was to Chessa what Angel was to me- her baby. I remembered her saying they'd escaped when she was thirteen- Jamie couldn't have been more than a baby then. Chessa had brought him up.

Florn came down the stairs with a baby in his arms, loud and awake. It kept making funny gurgling noises until he handed it to Chessa. I'd forgotten about the actual baby.

"You've got a kid?" I knew my surprise was probably a little more than obvious in my voice.

"Uh-huh. This is Celine. Celina Hope Swan Cox."

The kid put her hands up to her mouth and giggled, then waved a little fist at us. Nudge let out a loud 'awwwww'. I shook my head.

"You guys sleep OK then?" asked Florn.

I nodded for what like the umpteenth time.

"Good. Listen Chess, you be all right here holding fort? I'm going to get things started up."

"I'll be fine. Can you get Kane to give the kids a lift in?"

"Happily."

Iggy dished out the eggs. Brida bit into hers and let out a quiet moan of delight. "These are delicious!" she exclaimed. "Think you've got a rival here, Chess."

Iggy positively beamed. I wondered if he liked her. She had to be a safe sort of person to like, all un-Erasfied and already aware of our unique abilities, which had to be a plus point. That, and she could probably beat him in a fight so long as he stayed on the ground.

"Right, I'm done!" Jamie took his plate to the sink. "I'll go get ready now."

Slowly, other members of the household came and went, all cleaning up after themselves and hurrying away to get ready for their boring mundane lives. Without anything else to do, the six of us (plus Total) just sat at the kitchen table until everyone apart from Chessa and the baby had left.

"How old's Celine?" asked Nudge cutely.

"Oh, nearly nine months now. She's getting quiet big."

"She's so cute…" Chessa merely beamed. Moms love being told their kids are cute. Nudge was really buttering her up.

"Thank you! We're all quite proud of our new addition."

"Does she…does she have any powers?" I asked. I just had to know. I mean, if some time in future one of us winding up having a kid, would it follow us, or be completely human? Genetics were a weird thing.

Chessa seemed to know what I was thinking about. "Well, it's hard to tell at the moment," Chessa admitted. "I'll tell you she's fast, always hungry and very well developed, but I just sound like any new mother. She's a bit of an experiment in herself! We don't know how she'll turn out, whether she be some mind-reading future-seeing super-soldier or what."

"Sorry," I queried. "Soldier?"

"That's what we were designed as," she said slowly. "Soldiers. At least, Kane and Florn were. I was made to be a human computer, capable of working anything out. They didn't expect me to be able to see things that hadn't happened yet."

I chewed my lip thoughtfully. I'd never really thought about the ability to see into the future before, but I didn't like it. I didn't like the thought that anything in the future was decided.

"I can't see far into the future, you know." Chessa said suddenly. "Only certain things, things that are just about to happen- or things that already have. Just like I only read the thoughts going directly though your mind, and only sometimes. I'm not really a mind-reader, you know. Not like you, little Angel."

Angel smiled angelically. It was annoying. I remained sceptical of the whole future-seeing thing.

Chessa loaded the dishwasher and the kids helped put things away. Iggy washed down the table without being asked, making Chessa beam. Her smiles were getting annoying. This time, she also said, 'I'm smiling, Iggy' so he'd know that she was. Smiling. It was like she'd known him for ages, rather than a few hours. How could she be so casual about this whole thing?

"You guys want to look around the farm? I have to sort of this messy muppet. You can go anywhere- we man this place ourselves. Borrow a coat or two if you like, but take them off before you fly- Jamie's ruined two of his that way."

We all nodded and wandered off outside, not troubling ourselves with coats. It was dry in the yard, barely a puddle to show for the night before.

Angel and the Gasman rushed off to coo at the sheep before I could even try to stop them, and Nudge walked after them, trying not to look too interested. I sighed, happy they were so easily amused.

"So, what now, fearless leader?" Iggy asked teasingly. "Whereto?"

"I don't know." I have this motto sometimes, which is used mostly just as an excuse when I don't know where to go. I'll say let's go 'wherever the wind takes us'. And it had quite literally taken us to a farm with a family a with a lot in common with us. It was hard to put it down to coincidence.

"Maybe we'll stick here for a while," I suggested. "If they'll let us stay, that is. I don't know."

Fang snorted. "Funny, isn't it? A lot of unexpected things have happened to us, but we kind of expect that. This? No clue."

"Yeah, let's stay for a bit," Iggy seemed overly keen. "Unless they chuck us out."

"Or our current foe comes close to finding us," I added hastily. "I'm not bringing them in on this family."

"At least they could handle it."

"It'll ruin them," I said before I could stop myself. Sightless or not, Iggy's head swung round with Fang's. "I mean, they're a nice, happy family. They have a baby. They don't deserve any more grief, and I'm not going to be the one to bring it to them. Agreed?"

"Agreed." They both said together.

"Right- now who wants to fly?"

.o0o.

**A/N: Blah**


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